Scenario development through participatory processes. A tool for urban and environmental planning integration in the context of climate change. The case of Lower Parana Delta, Argentina.

---

Veronica Zagare, Diego Sepulveda Carmona

Friday 3 july 2015

9:30 - 9:45h at Oceania (level 0)

Themes: (T) Managing deltas, (ST) Adaptive delta management

Parallel session: 14K. Managing deltas - Impacts

---

Delta territories are complex systems subjected to pressures derived from natural and man-made processes. To reach successful adaptation policy regarding urban development and climate change, it is necessary to anticipate the changes in the system. For that purpose, this paper presents the process of “scenario development” as an innovative tool to understand the territory, identify the main characteristics and challenges and discuss the future evolution of the area. It also encourages the opening of the decision making process through the joint participation of governmental institutions, knowledge-oriented researchers and practice-oriented stakeholders in a pilot experience consisted in a series of workshops. The process was implemented in the insular municipalities of Tigre and San Fernando, located in the lower section of the Parana Delta (Argentina), which face the pressures of the rapid growing processes of Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area and the uncertainty of strong climate changes in a context of lack of resources and social inequity. The aim of this study is to present the methodological aspects of the process and show the conclusions of the workshops, in order to measure the possibilities to replicate it in other areas of the delta which deal with different types of pressures on the land.